Gluten-Free Sourdough Buckwheat Bread Recipe

Yup, this whole buckwheat bread is gluten-free. Better yet, it has only three ingredients, and you can get two of them at the normal grocery store (and the other one is water). No grain mill or expensive flour required and you don’t need any atypical kitchen equipment to make it. It makes for a great sandwich. It tastes fantastic (unsurprisingly, it tastes like rich, savory buckwheat), and although it doesn’t have the texture of bread with gluten—it’s a little cake-ier—it also doesn’t have any of the gross gums, sweeteners and fillers that many store-bought gluten-free breads have. It’s an easy win for the whole foods crowd.

This is not my brainstorm. This is one of those delightful grain things we fermented at Sandor Katz’ residency, but I’ve tweaked the loose recipe we made, and broken things down into specifics. My soaking and fermentation times are significantly longer than those we used at the residency, but this is the end product that best fits my preferences, so this is how I’m making it.

This ain’t no gluten bread. You can tell because it isn’t exactly beautiful and the crumb is not airy and chewy. It’s dense and cake-y, though, which provides its own pleasures.

I am not gluten-free (I don’t eat a ton of carbs, though so my grain intake is very limited), but I am a little obsessed with this bread. It is one of those simply genius recipes that’s hard to believe until you try it.

Those bubbles in the batter indicate that fermentation happened! Yay! You’re ready to bake it.

This is a pretty versatile bread. You can add a variety of seeds (sunflower is super tasty). I’ve been busy working on this basic recipe, so I haven’t experimented much beyond sunflower and sesame, but I’m betting you could throw other goodies in there with great success. Just make sure you add them before fermentation. You don’t want to disturb the batter too much just before baking. Also, make sure to check out the photos for hints on how things should look at each stage. Getting this to where I liked it took a several dozen pounds of buckwheat, and the visuals are the key.

I call it batter because it’s way wetter than dough. Make sure to gently smooth out the surface. it won’t rise a ton, so what you put in will be similar in shape to what you take out. This is a smoother version of the dough/batter than I prefer.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (375 g) hulled, whole buckwheat

1 cup (235 ml) filtered water, plus more for soaking

1/2 teaspoon (3-4 g) kosher salt

1/3 cup (45 g) sesame seeds (optional)

HOW-TO

Rinse buckwheat and remove any debris. Place buckwheat in a large bowl and cover with at least 2 inches of water. Cover with a cloth and let it soak overnight.

Drain buckwheat well in a fine mesh strainer. DO NOT RINSE! That slimy stuff is what makes this work. You’ll lose a little of it just by draining off the soaking water. No worries on that.

Pour the strained buckwheat into the blender or food processor and add 1 cup of filtered water, salt and sesame seeds. Pulse until combined, but not smooth. In a Vitamix, this is like 2 seconds of it running, followed by 2 to 3 pulses. In a food processor, it’s more like 10 pulses. Your goal is to integrate the liquid and grain so that they don’t separate when poured out of the blender, but also leave some of the grains relatively in tact. If it gets too smooth, no worries! It will be just fine, but it tastes nicer and has a way better texture when not fully blended. If you pour it and you’re seeing too much water separated, blend it again. Better over-blended than under-blended, but you can also toss it back into the blender for another pulse or two if it pours and separates quickly.

Pour it into a large glass bowl (the same bowl you soaked it in is fine), cover with a kitchen cloth to keep dust out and let it sit for 24 hours at room temp. If your home is particularly warm, you may want to cut that time, or if it’s particularly cool, you could go up to 36 hours. I’ve tested this at room temperatures ranging from 64°F (17.7°C) to 78°F (24.5°C), (all in the same summer month! Thanks, climate change!) and I was able to bake it after 24 hours of fermentation at both temperatures.

If you want to measure how much your dough/batter has risen, place a piece of tape along the side of the bowl, even with the level of batter. This isn’t a glutinous bread that will double in size. It tends to rise between a 1/2 inch and an inch. You’ll be able to see the bubbles in the batter that tell you it fermented, though, so keep your eyes peeled for those.

Once it’s ready, heat the oven to 425° F (218° C), and gently pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Since this bread doesn’t rise a ton, I prefer a deep loaf pan so that I get a more sandwich-worthy slice. It should be full to about a 1/2 inch below the rim of the pan. My best results have been in my 1.5 quart Pyrex loaf pan.

Place it in the oven, middle rack, and allow it to bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Mine is done at 38 minutes. You’ll know it’s done when the entire surface looks like cracked desert sands. The edges should be lightly browned. The middle will set last, so if you see a wettish spot there, it hasn’t finished baking.

Allow to cool completely before removing from pan. It should release easily once cooled.

This loaf will keep for 3-5 days at room temperature. Underbaked loaves will be wetter and won’t keep as long. You may want to store those in the fridge.

The edges are browning, so it could be tempting to pull this out of the oven. Don’t do it. Wait until that wet patch in the middle is as craggy and dry looking as the rest of the surface.

Comments

I haven’t tried it with buckwheat, but generally you don’t want to cook things before you wild ferment them, so I would guess you’ll want to buy just regular, hulled buckwheat like the kind I call for in the post.

Hi Lelly,
I have never tried, but I have a feeling it might work well sliced and tightly wrapped, especially if toasting is your next move after freezing. I’ll give it a try the next time I make it and report back.

I just baked bread with roasted Buckwheat as couldn’t get hulled. Carried out recipe step by step and the bread turned out fine. Not same bubbles as pic after 24 hour fermentation but mixture was light and fluffy when I stirred it. Loaf didn’t rise very much as result but my husband loved it. Felt really satisfied after eating it – nicely filling and felt like it was really nutritious thanks so much for recipe!

The same happened to me. I fermented mine for 24 hrs and will try 12 next time as well.
When I checked the batter in the morning it had risen double, but then collapsed as I could see where it had been up to. I stirred it gently to release the gas and that helped.
I baked it and it tastes OK, but with a hint of the fermentation smell still.
The overnight temperature here was 17°C, so maybe the batter over-fermented???
Next time I’ll boil and cool my filtered water and see if that helps.

For those who have had bad odors…
I have several years experience with sourdough starters and ferments. Here are some things to consider.
Sourdough starters can begin with only water and a grain. The first few days you will see bubbly beauty, then you take a whiff. Ewww. That’s called the bacterial phase. After a few more days, the acid builds up in the starter, and the bacteria are overpowered by yeast. That’s when it is fermenty fragrant and ready to use.
There is a trick to skip the bacterial phase—start with higher acidity. This would take some experimenting, but You might try a splash of apple cider vinegar in the first soaking, or sub pineapple juice for some of the 1 cup water in the final batter.
Another option is to inoculate with good microflora, so the bad bugs don’t have a chance to get stinky. Just like with fermenting veggies, add a tablespoon or so of yogurt whey or fresh kraut or pickle juice to the soaking water.
One last thing to consider—what salt are you using? Do NOT use iodized salt for anything you are going to soak or ferment. Use only high quality, non-refined salt, aka sea salt, Redmond’s, Himalayan, etc.
Hope this helps!

And as mentioned, water does make a difference. Anything in the water that kills microbes could prevent any success with fermented foods—chlorine in tap water, or silver in my old Brita filter. If fermenting is part of your life, be very careful when choosing a water filter. If buying bottled water, spring water is preferable to distilled or purified. But if you find a water that works, stick with it!

Just to post another perspective: in my experience this concern about water and the success of a ferment is dramatically overstated in fermenting circles. I’ve been doing this for a while now. Every day. In multiple states and multiple countries. In various climates and with all kinds of water (tap, bottled, well, distilled, filtered, reverse osmosis, you name it).

I’ve had exactly one batch fail to ferment, and that was using the same water I use most often (Philadelphia city water from my tap filtered through a Brita filter).

Chlorine is rarely in the water supply now (chloramine, however, is common). While either of those has the potential to have a negative impact on bacteria (and therefore on my ferments), in my experience, it has not. Furthermore, bottled water is regulated waaaaay less than tap water, and it’s entirely possible that it is just tap water (with a side of plastic) so I don’t see the value in spending the money or creating more demand for plastic bottles.

If your ferment fails entirely, it is possible that the water was an issue, but I don’t think it’s likely to have been the case, and I would always look for a another culprit first.

Having said all of that, the taste of the water certainly impacts the taste of the ferment, so that can be a consideration for some people!

Using whey or juice from a previous ferment in vegetable ferments is not generally considered best practice. The vegetables have everything they need to ferment without help from a starter and one study by the WHO actually showed that they produced final products with problems (this has also been my experience with using a starter). Furthermore, they may limit the microbial diversity of the final ferment.

I just did two batches – same water, same salt, same sitting times. One got the smell and didn’t appear to rise, the other smells nutty and rose fine. It makes me think that maybe the issue was contamination somewhere along the line, but otherwise I’m left scratching my head as to what’s gone wrong.

I just tried this recipe and it worked perfectly and tastes so good. I did not add sesame seeds but may next time. It was so easy to make.the mixture .rose 1/2 inch in 24 hrs. I baked it for 38 min and it’s perfect.

I’ve never baked bread before, and I want some bread to eat. I made it as you said, and I used raw organic buckwheat groats. I baked it for 38 minutes, and it turned out absolutely awesome! There were no bubbles and NO smell. I’m starting another loaf now.
Thanks for the recipe 😁

I just made this bread, and it was really thick and smelled bad. I read other comments about it smelling bad, but after cooking it was fine. So i baked it and now my whole house stinks. I was so hoping it would work, don’t know what went wrong, i followed the recipe even bought bottled water.

The quantity will work in a 9×5 loaf pan, although you may need to adjust the bake time down. I do prefer it in a deeper loaf pan, though, as I mention in the post. This doesn’t rise a ton, so you won’t really sandwich sized slices in a 9×5. You could make more batter/dough and fill it basically to the top of the pan. That’s what I would do if I only had access to a 9×5. Good luck!

I can’t wait to make this but I’m a bit confused. I also have groats. At what point in the process do you refer to when you say “20minutes of active time”? At first, I thought you might mean fermentation but I don’t think that’s right. Can you clarify?

Active time in a recipe is when you actually have to being doing stuff (weighing/measuring/stirring). Generally you’ll see it in recipes to indicate the difference between how much time you need to set aside to be actively working on the recipe and the time that the recipe might be baking in the oven or simmering on the stove, for instance.

I encourage you to try! It is very a much a batter, so I can’t promise that the berries aren’t going to add a bit more liquid than it can tolerate, but the worst that can happen is that it won’t work and you’ll know for next time. My best advice is to try it as written first, so you get a feel for how things look at each stage. Then, go nuts with whatever inclusions you’d like!
I’m working on a new version right now with some different inclusions. We’ll see how that goes! Enjoy.

I followed your instructions exactly as you posted them and the loaf turned out perfectly. It is tasty and the texture is very appealing. I made it with sesame seed and for my next loaf I will try adding sunflower seeds. This is a brilliant recipe and I am sure I will make this regularly in the future! One tip that may help is to put 6 cups of water in the loaf pan you intend to use. If that does not fit, get yourself another loaf pan that holds that many cups. I thought my first 2 loaf pans would do but they did not….

It should smell fermenty (yeasty, etc), but definitely not gross. If your home is very ward, you may have uninvited yeasty guests getting too active, but other than that, and with such a short fermentation time, I’m not sure why anything would be wrong. So sorry I can’t be of more help!

My batter is fermenting now and it smells pretty bad too. I used alkaline water. It may be 75-80 in my house. I’m afraid it’s bad but after reading the comments I guess it’s ok? I don’t see bubbles yet and its been almost 24 hrs. Any suggestions?

Be sure that you are using raw buckwheat. . . take some grains, and roll them up in a damp paper towel to see if they will sprout. You would want to be sure you have raw, viable seeds doing this. . . live seeds will have some enzymes in them that would help in the fermentation not going sideways.

It does smell ‘gross’…. I threw out my first batch because I thought it was “bad”. I’ve made sourdough before and this didn’t smell like anything I’d made before :). Got fresh Buckwheat and made a second and it smelled the same 🙂 so I went ahead with it. Once baked, the ‘weird’ smell is gone…..

Hi! I love this bread, it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for and wanting to make. It costs half the price of a similar loaf we can buy here in Australia and is SO easy to make. I’ve made it twice now, the first loaf was pretty flat because the winter weather meant it didn’t ferment and my loaf pan is big. I then doubled the amounts and let it ferment two days for the second attempt and it worked very well. It did take quite a while to bake though, given the size, so I covered the top in foil, turned the oven down and let it bake in total around 2 hours. I also had leftover batter so I made some little rolls in a muffin tray. The texture and taste is fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing this!

Thanks for sharing this recipe. I have made it probably 5 times now. Though, the first two times the batter smelled really good and just had that sourdough funky smell to it. The last three times I’ve been really bummed because the batter smells like rotten eggs and the one loaf we did eat (from the rotten-egg smelling batter) made us feel gassy and weird. We’ve done the exact same thing every time. This last batter we even put in a cool dark place to be sure it wasn’t the heat of the sun that was turning the batter funky! I can’t imagine why the last few batters have gone bad. We’ve stirred them at 12 hours each time and usually by that time they already smell bad. Any thoughts?

Hmmmm…very weird! Did you change the source of your buckwheat? Or was your water particularly chlorine-y smelling for the more recent batches? Has the temperature dramatically changed since the first two times you made it?

There are a lot of variables, and this isn’t an issue I’ve had before, so I’m not sure exactly what happened. I would maybe recommend making this with the shortest possible fermentation time (that would be a temperature issue, really). That would mean keeping tabs on it until you see decent rise. The other thing would be to make sure the bowl/crock and cover you use are cleaned in very hot soap and water. I can’t imagine that’s the issue, but in case some weird microbe got in there, you want to make sure it doesn’t hang around.

I hope this gets resolved so you can get back to enjoying tasty loaves!

Thanks for the recipe Amanda. I’m making it now for the 3rd time with a minor variation – added 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds in addition to the sesame seeds. Actually it’s my first time even using sesame seeds as in the other batches I used sunflower seeds. Your recipe also really helped me tweet another I was making. Before I stumbled onto yours I was making a similar creation with buckwheat that I sprouted, then added soaked pumpkin and sunflower seeds, raisins, and cinnamon. To get the centre cooked I cooked it very slowly at a low heat but it wasn’t working very well. From your recipe I found the solution – high heat! I’m also fermenting that recipe now too. It turned out delicious!

I have seen recipes that use buckwheat flour, so your best bet would be to Google those. You will definitely not get the same texture as the whole grain bread and the rise might be different, depending on how the flour was processed.

I purchased whole-grain Teff by mistake and cannot grind it into flour. Do you think that whole-grain Teff will work in your buckwheat recipe? I’m not trying to diminish your recipe, I just believe you are probably more informed about alternate grains than I am. Thanks for any help you can give me.

I don’t think teff would work here. Buckwheat isn’t actually a grain, it’s a seed, and I think that’s what gives it the special, outer mucilage that allows the whole thing to bind and rise. You can always soak and ferment the teff and then blend it and cook it on the stove as an injera-style flat bread! Teff is super tasty, so I’m sure you’ll find a great use for it.

You are a life saver! I’ve been gluten free and sugar free for about 2 weeks now. The only thing I really miss is toast. I’ve looked and looked at the store for bread that doesn’t have sugar and no gluten but I can’t find any. So this is perfect! Thanks!

It’s the mucilage in on the buckwheat that lets this rise properly, so it’s not going to be an exact fit. I have seen recipes that use buckwheat flour, so your best bet would be to Google those. You will definitely not get the same texture as the whole grain bread and the rise might be different, depending on how the flour was processed.

You could get texture by adding your seeds un-whizzed. Im going round lake your recipe today, I live in Brittany in France and they use buckwheat a lot here for pancakes. I won’t have a problem getting the seed, but the flour is so available I may give it a try. I’ve done that No-Kneed bread which is excellent but if course with gluten. I’ll let you know!

I love this idea and the consistency of the bread is great too! Have you ever tried making it with other grains, like brown rice? Just because buckwheat has such a strong overpowering and kinda bitter taste! Maybe mixing 1/2 buckwheat + 1/2 brown rice would work?! Thanks, I can’t find any other recipe that’s so healthy and simple at the same time!

You can definitely try, but I don’t think you’d end up with bread. The key to this working is the mucilage on the buckwheat. It provides the structure that leaving gluten out eliminates. My best guess is that a 1/2 brown rice version would be more like a loose grain cake, but I can’t say for sure! I’m sure it would still be tasty to eat, so it’s probably worth a shot!

i’ve been making this type of bread for awhile now and last week i thought i’d try adding Quinoa. i use 2 c Buckwheat groats and 1 c Quinoa and 1 c water. soak as recipe and then blend (i blended it till smooth maybe i didn’t need to) and soak as recipe… the bread turned out wonderful…a little different flavour and texture…i think i like it more:)

I tried this also, and it made the taste much nicer, but the bread came out very gloppy and too dense, not quite done. Perhaps you meant you added cooked quinoa to it? I soaked almost 1c of quinoa with the 2c buckwheat, then perhaps overblended it a bit, but it was very dense, not like the first loaf I made with straight buckwheat, which had a nice texture. Baked the full 40 minutes. What was your trick, Lucy?

Hi. I first got this recipe from Sandor when he posted it on his facebook wall. I’ve been baking it for several years now.

I have used the same method with french lentils, rye berries, and whole oats. I have added 1/2 c of buckwheat flour to the buckwheat batter., and rye flour to the rye batter.

I find that it works well for all these breads. I haven’t found the mucilage to play any significant role in allowing the bread to rise. Sometimes I rinse my buckwheat more than other times and I don’t notice any difference.

For making bread with flour that you soak beforehand see Nourishing Traditions by Mary Enig and Sally Fallon

Hey! That has definitely not been my experience. Rinsing thoroughly has led to WAY smaller rises in the bread. I always encourage folks to try what they think sounds fun for them, but my experience in this case differs greatly from yours so I felt compelled to point that out.

I am interested in making this bread and wonder if it would work out well in a slow cooker? Also would I have to let it ferment or could i just slow cook it right after preparing the dough? I have heard that after you turn it on, the slow cooker rises bread and then cooks it so there would therefore be no need to pre-rise. Any help with this would be great!

Thanks for posting this! I have recently gotten excited about fermenting grains and legumes because I can buy the typical fermented veggies and drinks, but no one is selling fermented buckwheat yet 🙂

I made this for the first time and I think I let it go a little too long (I should have baked it this morning but I slept in and waited until I got home from work.) The surface smelled a little off, but I just mixed it in and baked. My partner doesn’t want to eat it and says I should have skimmed the top, but the piece I just ate tastes great. I guess I will learn my lesson if I get sick, but I am hoping the cooking process was enough to make it safe.

I also wanted to add one thing about cooking ferments. Yes, it kills most of the microbes, BUT there seems to be growing evidence that even dead probiotics can pass on favorable traits to the ones living in your gut, and even live ferments like sauerkraut get mostly killed by your intestines before they reach the large intestine.

YUM!!! This turned out brilliantly – thank you so much for posting! We’ve been gobbling it up with some fermented pumpkin seed cheese ontop. Fermented seed bread with fermented seed cheese? Yes please!! Keep up the amazing work, you are so appreciated!

I am attempting to make my first batch however, my organic buckwheat hulled but I was NO fermentation although after leaving it 24 hours without one sight of a bubble I went ahead and drained and blended [looks like whats in your picture, now leaving it for 20 t0 24 hours as quite warm weather wise. Any thoughts on NO sighting of fermentation going on

My loaf is about to go if the oven. Im less than hopeful judging from your photos because mine looks like soup at this point. But I’ve been working on it for 2 days now. So i might as well attempt to bake it though im pretty sure it won’t be edible.

Love all the comments! This is so easy and tastes amazing! Made it for the first time today and am so thrilled. Do you have info on the health benefits of buckwheat and the fermented bread? Thank you so much for the simple, clear instructions.

Hello! I hope this question hasn’t already been addressed! I’m looking forward to trying your process/recipe! I’m interested in sprouted grains and wondered what your thoughts are on adding more grains/seeds such as barley, millet, flax, or lentils to the buckwheat during the soaking portion of the recipe. Do you think the bread will still develop nicely and ferment? I will probably try your recipe “as is” first. Thanks for sharing!

If you want a rice bread, you should definitely look into the traditional indian idli. They’re not bread in the way that this is, but they definitely hit the carby delish button. I love making idli, but I haven’t gotten a recipe up on the blog yet!

I wouldn’t attempt to substitute the buckwheat with rice or any other grain in this recipe, though, because its the buckwheat’s special mucilage that makes it work so well!

Add buckwheat soaked with sesame seeds overnight. After buckwheat has swollen up, the just covered with water. If necessary, add a little extra water or drain. Mix buckwheat and seeds in blötläggningsvattet (do not pour off and rinsed). Add salt and other optional flavoring if you wish. The consistency should be like thick porridge and mixed almost completely smooth. Oil the inside of a loaf (1.5 l) – preferably with coconut oil in solid form because it remains until the loaf to be baked. Pour the batter into the pan and cover with plastic film or a cloth. Let rise at room temperature for 24 hours. The bread will not rise up more than 25%. Bake at 225 ° C for about 60 minutes. Let the loaf cool on a rack under a cloth.

This answers the question I was going to ask! I was wondering if you could just do the ferment in the baking pan so you don’t lose the rise of the batter. This calls for fermenting in the baking pan, so yes!

Hi Amanda, thanks for posting your simple recipe. It is the first item that shows up when I did a google search for “gluten free buckwheat sourdough recipe” and certainly the simplest! I’m looking forward to trying it out next weekend 🙂 Isabelle

I can’t speak specifically to blood sugar, however, this does fall under the sourdough umbrella, and buckwheat is a seed, so may also have a lower natural sugar content than actual grains (I don’t know that to be true, but I’m sure Google knows).

Hi Amanda, yes, it is extremely good toasted and I also grilled them and it is super delicious, enhances the flavor !! Ones again thanks for this delicious buckwheat recipe, as it is it is a winner!! I also made with 1/3 cup of sprouted red quinoa instead of the sesame seeds and it came as expected simply delicious!!

Thank you for a superb recipe, my partner has just gone gluten free, and this is the simplest, most nourishing bread recipe yet! Really impressed.
And saving a fortune compared with the cotton wool gluten-free additive filled commercial rubbish!
A great staple, and so easy- I’m getting careless with quantities, chucking in handfuls of seeds, haven’t had a bad result ever.

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I have coeliacs and I have been looking for a simple gluten free sour dough recipe for a very long time. I like my processes to be as simple as possible. This looks like the perfect recipe. I have some mix fermenting at the moment and I can’t wait to taste the finished products!

Hello! I am wondering if this recipe can be used to make biscuits. I am looking for an all-buckwheat recipe – just like yours – that is grain-free. If you were going to make biscuits out of this instead of a loaf of bread, what else might you add to it or do differently? I would LOVE your feedback!!! I am certainly going to make the bread, too! I also would just love to have a way to turn this into a biscuit 🙂

Hmmmm. I don’t see this working super well as a biscuit recipe, but it seems doable. You could try drop biscuits and “drop” them before fermentation so the rise in shape. A muffin tin might be the best approach there.

Hey Amanda, thanks for the recipe! I ran into a similar problem as the others with it being smelly and really really sour when i tried to eat it, couldn’t do it. I did however end up letting it ferment on the counter for way too long possibly. I wasn’t bubbly yet so i let it sit longer and ended up giving it just over 48 hours. Is that why do you think? I figure longer the better. but maybe it when bad in that extra 12 hour?

I have been living a celiac life for ten years and this recipe changed my life ! I have recently started using more and more buckwheat, and that’s how I found it through google.

Most gluten free bread recipes are not like this at all. This is simple, affordable and natural. The rest usually misses one of these attributes. If simple and natural then not affordable, and if affordable and simple, not natural.

So I think recipes like this should be common knowledge. Thanks for sharing.

Has anyone tried it with yeast added? I definately will and report on how that goes.

Hi, I also make gf kefir bread but in a much simplified way: with millet, sorghum and buckwheat flours from Redbob’s Mills, homemade milk kefir, salt, phsyllum husks and 50/50 ground chia and flax, some water to an almost cake consistency and that’s all there is to it! I then grease and flour a bread pan, drop it in there and let it ferment overnight and into the next day until bubbles show on the surface ( I taste a teeny bit to make sure not go too sour) I put a cookie sheet in the oven and preheat at 400°, I bake it on the cookie sheet for 25 minutes, drop to 350° and bake it for 20 more minutes. The thermometer must read 206° It is amazing! Texture and flavor a bit like sourdough wheat bread. Not dense because it is one fermentation, one rise and the additions contribute to a better texture, not biscuit like.
Out of 3 cups of flour only 1/2 cup is buckwheat.
One scoop phsyllum
A heaping 1/8 cup of ground chia and flax ( together)
1 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt (pink)
1 cup milk kefir
Water ( not tap) to almost cake batter consistency
Remember to beat it well but not as much as gf bread typical batters with gums and eggs that need long mixing.
Easy easy easy….

Hi Carmen. Your recipe sounds super good. 😋 By any chance can you provide me with the exact measure of all the ingredients that you used. ( I’m new in baking 😳) I know you used only 1/2 of buckwheat ,but how many cups of Millet and sorghum ? How much is one scoop of psyllium because mine doesn’t have any scoop inside. Do you add the kefir only to the flours and the next you add the rest of the ingredients or you put everything in the same oven pan and just put it in the oven the next day ?
I also want to make kefir but I have no idea where to buy the grains starter because I can’t have milk. Any help ? Sorry. So many questions. Thanks

Hi Karen,
I don’t think it will work, but I’m not sure. The gelatinous layer that forms during the initial soaking is totally key to this working, and I think it’s possible they rinsed that off in a pre-soaked buckwheat.

An absolutely brilliant recipe! Works perfectly every time. I don’t really get a lot of bubbling, more a general fizzing (36 hrs in a cold kitchen), and it doesn’t exactly smell appetising when pouring into the tin, but I have made a couple of loaves now, and they turn out beautifully. I am going to start experimenting with adding other seeds now, and am also interested in the possibility of using a super-thin, fine-ground batter for crispbeads. Many thanks.

Thank you for this recipe….first time I’ve had bread in months and it’s delicious….I’ve made it twice this week and topped with pepitas the first time and a mix of black seed and pepitas the 2nd time. Both were delicious!

Hi, This bread is amazing. The best I have ever made. It comes out perfect each time which is pretty amazing for me as I am no baker! It is so simple to make. Sometimes I don’t want it to taste so buckwheaty then I just do half buckwheat and half quinoa. I throw different extra ingredients in all the time so have a great variety of different breads. At the moment my favourite is adding some dried apricots, raisins and walnuts! delicious! Thanks so much

Hi, I just made my first load following the instructions exactly. It turned out fine. I’d like to enhance the taste a bit. The batter had a GROSS smell before putting it in the oven. Is it ok to add a tsp or so of sugar to the batter before fermentation?

You can definitely try. I would normally avoid adding sugar to wild ferments, because in my experience it can kind of throw off the balance and make textures a little weird and fermentation times a little off, but perhaps with the slimy texture already happening here, it might just serve as a little extra food for the wild yeast.

As for the gross smell, I’m not sure where that would come from, but I will tell you that I would also be extremely leery of eating anything that smells gross-in-all-caps. Our noses are our best and first defenders against food-borne illness. Of course, gross can be a matter of acclimating to the smells of fermentation (my first batch of kimchi with shrimp and fish sauce wasn’t something that exactly smelled pleasing during the early days of fermentation), but if it’s truly, objectively gross. Maybe try another batch, as sad and un-fun as that can be. Good luck!

Thank you sooo much for this recipe! I just bought some buckwheat groats and I can’t wait to try making this. My 5yo daughter will be so excited to have bread that’s actually in a loaf shape! She can’t tolerate grains, and although I’ve been able to make various bready products for her (muffins. Buns, pizza crust, tortillas), she would really love a bread that you can slice and that resembles “normal” bread. I hope I don’t mess this up and I hope she loves it!
I’ve never used buckwheat… How would you describe it’s flavour?
Thanks!!

Hi Amanda,
I don’t usually leave comments on blogs etc., but after finding your recipe and making your sourdough buckwheat loaf I felt I needed to thank you! Your informative and easy to follow instructions together with the photographs make for a perfect loaf of buckwheat bread.
I have been searching for over two years for a recipe such as yours. I knew a fermented sourdough buckwheat loaf was possible and thanks to you I now know how to make one myself. You provided exactly what I have been looking for – an ingredient list that contains only buckwheat, water and salt, a fermented/sourdough buckwheat loaf, an easy no fuss recipe, photos that allow me to know what my loaf should look like at each stage and last but not least, a delicious loaf of bread.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Sarah

Looking forward to trying your recipe as i have been experimenting on my own with GF bread for my daughter. I culture kefir at home, and use the whey in the ferment. I have been experimenting with sprouting the buckwheat, (which requires rinsing). i have a loaf baking now with this variation.
Thanks for sharing

Hi Amanda,
I absolutely love this bread! I have made it several times now, trying it with different grains, using buckwheat as the main one. I love the taste and the actual process of making it. It is so simple and easy, yet the result is so fantastic. Being a baker and also gluten free I can’t tell you how exciting it is for me to find a bread like this. Here is my question for you: I understand that it’s the mucilaginous quality of the soaked buckwheat that holds it together as a bread. Does that mean that other grains (i.e. amaranth, flax, chia,etc) that have these qualities might also work well as a bread, using this recipe as a guide? Perhaps just adding them to the buckwheat in various proportions?

Hi Amanda,
I posted a comment last week that was being “moderated” but have yet to see it here. So I will ask again: is it possible to use other grains that have the gelatinous quality that buckwheat has, like amaranth, flax, chia and possibly others? I have tried adding these to the buckwheat, but wonder how important it is that buckwheat be the main ingredient? Has a recipe like this been tried with other gelatinous grains besides buckwheat?
I love this bread!!

Hi. I’m super excited about making this bread. It should be ready to bake in a few hours! One thing I’m confused about though is the fact that you put the mix in a bowl to ferment for the second time. After blatting the whole soaked buckwheat groats I’m trying and putting them in a baking paper lined bread tin and then will bake directly once they’re had that second 24 hours ferment. Do you think this will work or is there other things I don’t know about?

I was recently diagnosed Gluten intolerant and now I am learning how to eat again basically. I made this bread for the first time and I have to say it’s awesome! It made me so happy that it tastes like a really good proper bread! I’m definitely planning to pimp the recipe next time and will share if it’s successful 🙂 thanks a million for sharing the knowledge! E.

If you soak the grains in a pickl-it jar and ferment the batter as well in the pickl-it jar it would most likely cut off those nasty smells. Sour dough batter should not smell bad, but sour. Oxygen that gets into good while fermenting can cause problems and mess up the ferment process. It is best to ferment everything in a pickl it jar I find. No histamine or mold issues that way as well.

I have only used a pickl-it a couple times and I never noticed any difference in effect or quality of the ferments (actually, I had a batch go soft in the pickl-it, which I’m sure was a coincidence, but isn’t something that I’ve ever had happen with my normal methods).

This ferment shouldn’t have an off smell, and its a super quick ferment, so I don’t see the value of special equipment here.

I have been fermenting veggies for a long time and also, years ago made sourdough bread…. that being said, sourdough Buckwheat has a much different smell…. so much so that the first time I made this, I threw it out because it smelled so bad…. got new buckwheat and tried again – it smelled the same! I then knew that fermenting buckwheat just has a much different smell than other bread ferments LOL!

I’ve just bought hulled sprouted buckwheat and I also have sprouted buckwheat flour at home. What’s the procedure with these two options, please? Don’t I need to add apple cider vinegar to create acidic environment needed for fermentation?

I can’t say whether either of those would work, because I’m not sure what their processing looks like. If they sprout and somehow keep the mucilage in tact while drying, it should work. Otherwise, it probably won’t. To use flour, I would still definitely recommend that you google a recipe that uses buckwheat flour. The process and quantities will be different.

I’ve tried this bread twice now as the recipe directs and for some reason it turns out too moist? I ferment it for 24 hours and it becomes bubbly, then I cook it in the oven for an hour at 218c. It just doesn’t dry out enough and is quite wet still even though the buckwheat is cooked. I tried adding a little less water but that makes the buckwheat crunchy. Do you have any suggestions of what to change?

I made this sourdough and it is divine!! Thank you so so much, your instructions are so authentic and specific too I love that!
I was wondering, do you think you could ferment quinoa or millet to make a loaf? I love how simple and wholesome this is, and that you only use 1 grain! You’re a wizard!

I wouldn’t think so. The mucilage on the buckwheat is the key here. You can definitely ferment those grains, but you will probably not end up with the same results. And all credit for this wizardry goes to Sandor Katz who taught me this recipe, but thank you!

I’ve never seen whole buckwheat. I do have buckwheat flour however. Will that work? Same 2 c.? I’ve been looking for years for a gluten free, dairy free, yeast free bread due to allergies. I would love a piece of toast or an actual sandwich. Thank you.

Hi Amanda. A question from Canada: have you tried this with other grains such as kamut or spelt? I wonder whether that would work. I love this recipe.. My sisters in the Netherlands are making it too after having tasted it at my house. I have your book and like it a lot. Life is good with fermented food…..

I haven’t but I don’t think it would work. Buckwheat is technically a seed, which I think helps (or is responsible for) its mucilage. Spelt and gamut wouldn’t have the same goop, and the goop seems to be responsible for the rise and texture of the great. Jealous of your Netherlands sister! It’s my favorite country 🙂

Thank you so very much for posting this recipe. I love to bake and experiment and due to a great many food intolerances I make up all kinds of recipes for breads and cakes myself. As soon as I read this one I just knew that it would be great. I followed your clearly written instructions almost exactly, (just substituted in 1/2 cup Chia seeds).
It turned out so amazing! A delicious crusty and springy loaf that slices well, is satisfying and moreish. Freezes really well too.

This is a keeper! I’m working on my third loaf now. I’m gluten sensitive, and this bread is great toasted for breakfast. I’ve found some store-bought GF breads make me feel exhausted or result in that brain-fog feeling, but not this bread. I added carroway seeds to my last loaf, and it tasted just like a traditional dense rye bread.

I just tried this for the first time and it was a complete disaster, maybe it needed to ferment longer or maybe because I tried adding flax seeds instead of sesame seeds. Maybe even over baked, it completely fell apart and has no flavor whatsoever. I’m disappointed because the buckwheat I bought wasn’t cheap and it was organic whole hulled raw buckwheat. I was really looking forward to it because most gluten free bread doesn’t have enough fiber.

I’m so sorry to hear that. I haven’t heard that feedback from others and I’ve never had that happen, so unfortunately I can’t give you any advice on what might have gone wrong. Hopefully someone else who had your experience will have some advice on how they fixed it. I wouldn’t think flax was a problem, because i use that regularly. Possibly it fermented in too cool a spot or baked in an oven that isn’t temperature correct? I have thermometer in my oven, so I can check that it’s reading right.

Maybe it was to cool, the bowl was cold to the touch, I thought with it being in the kitchen it would have been a warmer spot. Maybe next time I will go for a longer fermenting time and get an oven thermometer.

Tanks a lot for this recipe. It’s now my everyday bread 🙂
I do a lot of variations and it work great.
I put 3 cup instead of two (for 1½cup of water) and i mix cereal from the inspiration of the moment.(buckwheat, quinoa, oat)
I dont like sésame inside, it taste bitter, i prefer to put seed on top of the bread before cooking it(i do a lot of variation to pumpkin, sunflower, chia, etc)

wonderful bread! i have been looking for years for a whole grain gluten free bread recipe without yeast and every recipe that i’ve tried so far either doesn’t rise or doesn’t slice well or stays wet in the middle. I’ve been ordering my bread from a company in Ontario Canada to AK for the last 5 years due to not finding healthy alternatives in the US. Now I found the perfect bread! Thank you Amanda! I will be saving lots in shipping money!

Amanda, I just would like to share with you the pics of my bread based in your recipe, they are great!! I also made based in your recipe upside down pineapple cake, came delicious I just added maple syrup 1/4 cup instead of water I added pineapple juice and then viola!! came a wonderful cake

Totally genius recipe, could not be simpler. Followed it to the letter, baked for 38 mins, and couldn’t wait til it was totally cooled to saw through it for a thick, warm slice + loads of butter. AMAZING.

I just tried the recipie and it was GREAT! Worked fantastic. I do like the ‘bread’ toasted. Next I will try the dehydrator. Thanks for the details. I was very tempted to pull the bread from the oven while still ‘damp’ in the middle and then I recalled your caution. Yup. Waiting made all the difference. Yay! A bread that is so yummy, easy and doesn’t cost an arm/leg.

Hello Amanda.
I’ve been using your recipe for a few years now. I’m gluten intolerant and this is so much better than store-bought gluten-free bread. I’ve used it for pizza dough and made a fougasse type flatter version with olives, also delicious. I translated the recipe in French for a friend who doesn’t read English. Would you be interested in posting the French version on your website?
Thank you so much for this recipe!

I tried making this but I think maybe I let it ferment too long in the “batter” stage? I did it for over 24 hours – I made it the previously day – and when I came back from work tonight to make it, the dough smelled really bad and there was a layer of white stuff on top. I ended up tossing because it smelled bad but I wondered if it was just the fermenting smell supposed to be like this? Maybe I’ll do a shorter fermentation time next time but just wondering if there’s any other tips for next time? Thanks!

I would keep a closer eye on this for sure! I have never fermented it in 30 C+ temp, so I can’t say for sure what will happen. Most likely it will rise than fall again. If you can find a cooler spot in your home, give that a shot first.

Hi,
Thank you for such a super wonderful recipe ! ! !
I have a question regarding the colour of the water that the buckwheat has been soaking in overnight.
My soaking water turns a pinkish brown.

I am worried that PINK = MOULD ? ? ?

Sometimes the coloration is obvious as the water above the buckwheat in the bowl is pinkish brown and other times, (if I rinse the buckwheat prior to soaking) the colour only appears when I stir the buckwheat in the morning, (this happens as I scoop it out to strain it).

I have tried this recipe twice and both times the loaf was a soggy mess. The second time I baked it for 2 hours. It looks lovely on the outside, but is raw and stoggy inside. Do you have any suggestions?

Hi Bonnie,
I’m sorry, but I don’t! I can’t imagine baking this loaf for 2 hours and not having it completely burned to a crisp. Do you have an internal oven thermometer? The only thing I can think of is that your oven isn’t actually heating to the temperature it says it is. Best of luck!

I’m about to bake mine for the first time- it has been fermenting for 72 hours as there were no bubbles visible for the first 48! My house must have been too cold. My question is what do you grease the tin with? I was going to use coconut oil or olive oil- are they okay? TIA I’m so hopeful this will work out- I can’t eat any GF commercial bread as I react to all of them.

Thank you Amanda. I went with coconut oil. It looked just like yours on top after 38 mins but I left it for 40 just to be sure. I was so happy but unfortunatley when I turned it out it was soggy -the bottom wasn’t cooked. It also had a slight smell – I’m wondering if this means it’s not okay to eat?Any ideas what to do?

This bread is SO amazing! I’m about to make my third batch in just over a week. I usually let it soak “too long” by 8-12 extra hours, either in the groats phase or the batter phase (due to being busy or forgetting). This only seems to make it rise more! The last time the batter was overflowing the bowl! It had risen at least 2 inches! The bread is ridiculously easy and very tasty!!

Forgot to include my one question. Why do you pour off most of the soaking water, if you need the slime that forms in it, AND your having to add back in a cup of water? Would it be better to keep the water your pouring off ( measure it) & just add to it if you need to?

It’s better if there’s at least a little air in there, in my experience. I know that’s a little counter-intuitive, but in the early days, yeast replicate faster with the help of oxygen. It will still work if you tightly wrap though!

You could give it a try, but it definitely won’t be the same. Buckwheat is technically a seed, and it’s a special one at that. As I mention in the post, it’s the mucilage from the buckwheat that seems to be the trick. Millet doesn’t have that, so I don’t think it would hold together or rise. But that’s no reason not to ferment it! Fermented millet is mighty tasty.

There are a lot of recipes for doing it with flour out there on the internets (they do differ substantially from this one IME). I have personally not been as big of a fan of those as I am of this one, so I stick to the whole seed. I am a BIG fan of using what you’ve got though, so I would recommend finding the best buckwheat flour recipe you can and giving it a try that way before you buy more buckwheat. Maybe you’ll love it and never want to make the switch, or if you just think it’s ok, try making loaves side-by-side (flour version and this recipe).

Either way, I hope you find this (or a flour version) to be the loaf of your dreams.

To many comments to read through to see if the question was already asked, but could you save some that you drain off to mix with the buck wheat, to keep a little more of the “slimy stuff”? Or would that be a bad thing?

I made this mix for the first time yesterday. It smelled bad. This morning before baking I had a layer of pink mold on top. It is very warm here. Maybe the batter was ready after 12 hours? I had to throw it away. I hope to try it again. I followed the recipe exactly except I used a metal bowl. Any other ideas on why this went wrong?

Hey just tried making this. Mine looked really sunken in in the middle so I ended up baking it a further 20 minutes. Lol! It still looks sunken in but it is dry and cracked so I’m going to assume it’s done as it’s been in there an hour now. I just hope I didn’t leave it in too long but will see how it tastes! Thanks for the recipe. I’m vegan but I really want to try the body ecology diet by Donna Gates. She allows buckwheat on the diet so I’m thinking this bread will make it a lot easier.

I was so excited when i found this recipe. I did make it once, the top was crusty and golden all over but the inside was was absolutely completely raw….even after backing for 55 min. Had to slice it and bake the slices on a bak sheet. Did taste good though.
I also made it a second time, and it got the gross smell like garbage (the first time it didn’t). It is baking right now………..aand raw again, 60 min of bakung, nice and crusty on top-raw on the inside, and stinki.
I am so disappointed

I am definitely not an expert on baking, but this sounds to me like it’s too close to the heat source in your oven or possibly the temperature in your oven is too hot. If you don’t have an internal thermometer in your oven, it might be worth checking one out.

Other than that, I can’t say! As you can see, loads of people have made this recipe as written, and it’s something I still make without having this experience.

Hi Amanda and community,
Has anyone tried to do this fermentation with another grain/seed or legume e.g. quinoa, millet, mung bean, chickpea, etc?
I’m curious as to what the coating is on the buckwheat after it soaks and if this could happen for another grain/seed or legume.
Any ideas or feedback is appreciated, thank you! Love the recipe 🙂

Yes, unsuccessfully with several other seeds and grains. It’s the mucilage that makes it work, so if you can find another seed that has that, I think it would work. I haven’t tried with chia, which is the most likely possibility, IMO. Good luck!

[…] ordered 10kg of buckwheat grouts (the whole grain) from my local food co-op. I use them to make delicious and simple gluten free sourdough, but I think I can probably aslo try planting some in my garden. It will be an interesting […]

[…] has a chewy crust and tastes great as toast or in sandwiches. This recipe is inspired by Amanda at Phickle‘s buckwheat sourdough. And she has lots of other delicious fermentation recipes, so check it […]